Page 11 of Dark Stars

"I'm not sure I like that grin on your face. Tell me what's going on."

After Bobby did so, Alejo wrinkled his nose.

"Lovely. So what's this naughty thing you're going to do?"

"Offer it,"

Bobby said with a laugh.

"I'm going to make it an offering to one of my other relatives. That will start family drama to last for eons. I just have to decide who to offer it to. My mother? My grandfather? One of my aunts or uncles? What do you think?"

Alejo swept his arms out.

"I don't know your relatives. How about your grandfather? Grandparents are always good for stirring up drama."

Bobby snickered.

"The Great Cthulhu it is."

He jumped down to stand in front of the statue. Cutting his hand, he smeared his blood across the front of each vessel of milk. Beneath their feet, the ground rumbled faintly, like a distant earthquake or something waking. Behind him, Alejo inhaled sharply.

Kneeling, Bobby pressed his hands together and held them high, and spoke in the language of his mother's people.

"Great Cthulhu, High Priest of the Great Old Ones, He Who Lies Dreaming and Will Rise Again, I your humble grandson Ctheldush, offer these vessels of Milk of the All-Mother in appreciation for all you have done, all you do, all that you will do."

The ground rumbled harder, enough to shake the trees, a cacophony of falling fruit and nuts and more filling the cave. Bobby withdrew to the far side of the dark altar, beckoning Alejo to come stand with him.

Slowly at first, and then more quickly, several shadowy shapes appeared, like pools of darkness given a vaguely human shape, but far larger than any human, towering and ominous, eyes like glittering stars deep in the folds of darkness. One by one they approached the vessels, scooping the contents out into themselves and vanishing, more taking their place until the contents were entirely gone. The ground rumbled one more time, trembling through him, making his teeth rattle, and then there was silence.

"Yeah, let's never do that again,"

Alejo said.

"That wasn't fun in the slightest. What happens now?"

Bobby remained silent, though he wrapped his arms around Alejo from behind and held him close, nuzzling his ear.

On the dark altar, something shimmered, shone, and then solidified before the light slowly faded away. Bobby perked up and let go of Alejo before approaching.

"Aww, Grandfather gave me a gift!"

Reaching the altar, he picked up the small object there. To most, it would look like a strange, oversized coin made of copper long turned green.

In reality, it was a talisman of R'lyeh, rare and precious, highly prized for the power of Cthulhu it bestowed on the bearer. For humans, for all mortal and even many immortal beings, it was too much. It turned them mad or destroyed them outright.

For him, though…for him it was a power boost. An extraordinary one. Cthulhu was not the type to do affection—any more than his mother—but in his own strange and peculiar way, this was precisely that.

"I'm starting to get jealous of that stupid thing,"

Alejo muttered.

"You look at it like you've been married to it for twenty years."

Bobby tucked the talisman away in his jacket's inner pocket before pulling Alejo back into his arms and kissing him softly.

"Wait till you see how I look at you after twenty years."

"Oh, be quiet,"

Alejo mumbled, but didn't protest in the slightest when he got a few more kisses.

Eventually, though, their current situation needed to be focused on again.

"Come on, let's get out of here while we still can. We're lucky nothing more than my nasty little cousins has bothered us."

He took Alejo's hand and together they walked back out of the strange, beautiful forest. They were just feet away from the entrance they'd used, though, when Bobby heard voices.

"Someone's coming, we need to hide."

He didn't wait for a reply, just scooped Alejo up into his arms and ran back into the woods, wending through the trees until he was well past the altar, well beyond where the cultists were likely to go. Hopefully.

Stopping beside a particularly large tree, what must have been one of the very first to grow in this impossible forest, he shifted Alejo to his back, ignoring the indignant sputtering for the moment, and jumped. Alejo muffled a shout in the hollow of his throat, shaking against him as they landed on a high, wide branch, and Bobby slowly let him down.

Alejo whacked him on the chest, then did it a few more times for good measure.

"Don't do that! We just had this talk!"

"I didn't throw you anywhere!"

Bobby retorted in a low hiss.

"I panicked a bit, all right? I just wanted both of us safe and well away from whatever those dumbasses are about to do. They probably felt a shift, or perhaps Shub-Niggurath's displeasure, since by now she'll know her milk was stolen and that her grandson has it, fairly offered by a worshipper."

"You worship your grandfather? I don't think that's healthy."

"Nothing about my family dynamics are what humans would call healthy. I don't worship as such, but he does have my loyalty so long as that loyalty is not in conflict with my love and devotion to my parents, and now you. It's complicated. I'm worshipper and human enough that stealing the milk and offering it to him worked. Shub-Niggurath gave it to her disciples. I stole it. I offered it. All fair and inviolate."

He made a face.

"Doesn't mean she can't send her sycophants to beat the shit out of us, though."

"We really need to talk about your idea of dates."

"You are the one who said 'let's get the creepy shed out of the way,' so I don't want to hear it."

Alejo made a face, but didn't further reply as Bobby held a finger to his own lips. Voices drifted to them from a distance, faint and indistinct unless Bobby pushed his powers a bit, which he didn't dare do while servants of Shub-Niggurath skulked. Even a half-decent one would be able to feel his arcane energies. A very good one would be able to sense his presence if he wasn't careful to keep it masked. Thankfully, he felt no one of any such ability. Not a guarantee they weren't out there, but the chances were slim.

He watched as far below, people scoured the forest. He hadn't thought they'd come back this far, but he'd clearly been wrong. Thankfully, it hadn't occurred to any of them to look up. Even if it did, they were up so high that it would take eagle vision and a hell of a lot of luck to spot them.

All the same, Bobby didn't relax, ready to run like hell the moment they were spotted. Next to him, Alejo was still and quiet, but tension ran like a taut cord through him, ready to snap at any moment.

Eventually, finally, the cultists withdrew from that part of the forest, and Bobby relaxed ever so slightly.

"Didn't think they'd be this persistent."

"I mean, you did steal their precious milk, and if they know you gave it to your grandfather… You said she'd be pissed, right? That this would cause all kinds of drama?"

"Oh, yeah, for sure. Shub-Niggurath and Cthulhu are probably battling it out right now, and dragging the rest of my family into it. Would be hilarious to watch."

Alejo frowned.

"Wouldn't they drag you into the fighting, for causing it to begin with?"

"I'm not to blame for offering a gift."

"But you offered it precisely to start a fight."

Bobby shrugged.

"I made a sincere offer of something powerful to an Old One. Motive doesn't matter, only sincerity of purpose. I was quite sincere in making Cthulhu happy and in causing trouble."

Alejo looked cross-eyed for a minute before scowling at him.

"You're giving me a headache. I'm never bitching about my family's antics ever again."

Snickering, Bobby looped an arm around his shoulders and drew him into a soft kiss.

"Broadly, the less sense it makes to humans, the more sense it makes to us. You'll get used to it, though ideally you'll also rarely have to deal with my family. I do want you to meet my father at some point, though."

"Not your mother?"

"You'll meet her no matter what any of us wants, and her reaction could range from not caring to wanting to eat you."

"Lovely,"

Alejo muttered.

"Can we get out of here, yet?"

"Soon,"

Bobby said.

"It sounds like they're leaving, going to search for us elsewhere."

He frowned.

"I don't think we can go back to the hotel."

"Can't you just use your primordial arcana to make them forget about us, or forget the hotel room, or convince them we went further north, or something?"

"I could, but if I do it anywhere in town, Shub-Niggurath will feel it. Hell, some of her worshippers might feel it—I don't know how capable all of them are. I haven't sensed anyone that powerful yet, but it doesn't mean they aren't around, staying under the radar just like I am. Come on, I think we're at least safe to get out of this tree."

He turned so Alejo could climb onto his back, holding him securely as he jumped off the branch. Alejo gasped in his ear, but before he could say anything, they landed smoothly on the ground, Bobby taking care to ensure the landing wasn't jarring. He released his hold, letting Alejo slowly slide off his back, then turned around to hold him.

"All right?"

"Fine,"

Alejo said.

"Believe it or not, I've jumped from higher places by myself, though there was water at the bottom. But the water was frigid and the whole day sucked, so if I have to keep jumping from high places, I do prefer you do the work."

Bobby laughed and brushed a soft kiss across his mouth.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

"Back the way we came?"

"Probably the surest way, if not the safest."

"Let's get going, then."

"Stay close."

Bobby led the way through the enormous forest, absently admiring various flora and fauna along the way, itching to linger and study. One day, when he'd cleaned out the rot.

When they reached the altar, everything was thankfully clear, not so much as a single guard. It was only as he stepped around the altar, though, that he saw the body.

Alejo hissed.

"What the fuck?"

He dropped to one knee by the body.

"Throat was slit, but there's burns around the edges of the wound."

"Sacrificial knife. Poor bastard was offered up in apology, sucked dry by dear great-grandmother. Well, as the start of an apology. To appease her for this slight and get more milk for whatever the hell they're up to is going to take a whole lot more dead bodies."

His mouth flattened.

"Including children, even babies."

"That can't happen!"

Alejo said.

"I won't let them."

Bobby grabbed his flailing hands and pulled him in close, looping arms around his shoulders and nuzzling his cheek.

"I would never let them do something so horrendous. Right now, though, we need to get to a place of safety. The longer we stay here, the more danger we're in."

He hugged Alejo tightly, then withdrew, increasing his pace as the entrance they'd used came into view—and then stopped, hastily yanking them back deeper into the trees.

"There's someone at the door, just inside where you can't see them from here."

"Damn it,"

Alejo said.

"How the fuck do we get out of here, then?"

"Try the opposite side of the cave, I guess."

"We have to walk back all the way we just came and then more?"

Alejo asked.

"I'll be getting in enough steps for the whole damned week."

Snickering, Bobby took his hand, and they headed off, hastening by the altar when they passed it yet again, retracing their steps to the tree they'd used to hide and then carrying on farther still.

"How does so much forest fit underground."

"I mean, to be fair, there's a lot of underground,"

Bobby said.

"Wonder if there are like, mini-forests or something in smaller spaces. An entire bonsai forest!"

He laughed.

"Wonder what else is down here that we'd never think of. What a shame it's been overtaken by great-grandmother's stupid cultists."

Alejo grunted, and they walked on in silence, comfortable with each other but wary of every shadow and sound. When they at last reached the end, the trees petering out into shrubs and then moss, Bobby was relieved to see they had not one but two options in front of them. No, three. There was a doorway even further down.

"Too many options,"

Alejo muttered.

"Does one of them smell more promising than the others?"

"Stay here, I'll take a closer look. Sniff. Whatever."

Bobby squeezed his hand and then strode off, examining the furthest doorway first, then the other two.

"They all smell about the same. The middle one has a slightly stronger scent of water, so it might double back to the river or maybe a small stream that connects to the river."

"Well, we know the river current flows out of the caves, so if we follow the water, we might get out of here. On the other hand, that might lead us right into the arms of the people we're trying to avoid."

Alejo sighed.

"I'm tired, hungry and completely sick of this."

"Let's take the far tunnel, see where that goes. Its odd placement makes me think it's a bit separate from everything else. If we wind up stuck, I'll just risk exposure and use arcana to get us somewhere safe."

As hard as he was trying to keep his presence unnoticed, he had just devoured several of his stupid cousins, so they had some idea of what they were dealing with. It wasn't a matter of if at this point, just when they discovered what he truly was.

Taking Alejo's hand again, threading their fingers together, he led them into the third doorway, which immediately started to descend on a slightly sharp incline. As they seemed to be alone, he created several lights to guide their way.

"How far down can I go before oxygen becomes a problem, do you think?"

Alejo asked.

"Not a problem I ever had to wonder about before."

"You don't have to worry about it now, either,"

Bobby said.

"For one, caves tend to be all right on the oxygen factor. Openings let it come in from the outside, there was plenty in that forest we were just in, and I think I read once that rocks release oxygen as they're worn away. Something like that. But if you start to feel off, tell me."

"Right."

They walked on, though walking soon turned more into climbing as they worked up, over, under, and through the cave system, which clearly had not been smoothed out like the previous one they'd used. Bobby kept an eye on Alejo, guilt churning through him at how increasingly exhausted and worn he looked, but he'd put Alejo in far more danger by revealing himself, so he simply pressed onward.

Eventually, they came to a divide, exactly the kind of problem he hadn't wanted.

"Which way, you think?"